Chaos carolinensis, a very large amoeba

[tlansing]

Chaos carolinensis is a very large amoeba, so large in fact that I could not get the entire amoeba in one picture. So, I decided to make a short video to show how large it is. You can see the protoplasmic streaming and the many nuclei characteristic of this amoeba.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzbPqJ-nhdE

[75RR]

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Nice catch!

[Wes]

Chaos carolinensis is a very large amoeba, so large in fact that I could not get the entire amoeba in one picture. So, I decided to make a short video to show how large it is. You can see the protoplasmic streaming and the many nuclei characteristic of this amoeba.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzbPqJ-nhdE

Could you tell a bit more about where you got it from, how you retrieved the specimen and how you prepared the slide/sample.

Absolutely great catch and video!

[tlansing]

@75RR: Thanks!

@Wes: This was completely serendipitous. I had made a collection from a small pond (really a holding pond) which was next to a much larger lake in NC. This small pond does not go through cycles of drying out/refilling after rain, so the environment was pretty stable. I had allowed the jar containing the sample to sit for a while (weeks), sampling it occasionally to see what emerged. I actually saw Chaos twice in this same collection. I had simply removed mud, etc from the bottom of the jar, placed it on a slide, added a coverslip and took a look. I took a darkfield photo using a 6.3X objective (below), but I think the video gives a better idea of the size of this amoeba. Glad you liked it!

Chaos.jpg (69.3 KiB) Viewed 2807 times

[Chris Dee]

Beast of an amoeba, nice video, well done.

[Wes]

@75RR: Thanks!

@Wes: This was completely serendipitous. I had made a collection from a small pond (really a holding pond) which was next to a much larger lake in NC. This small pond does not go through cycles of drying out/refilling after rain, so the environment was pretty stable. I had allowed the jar containing the sample to sit for a while (weeks), sampling it occasionally to see what emerged. I actually saw Chaos twice in this same collection. I had simply removed mud, etc from the bottom of the jar, placed it on a slide, added a coverslip and took a look. I took a darkfield photo using a 6.3X objective (below), but I think the video gives a better idea of the size of this amoeba. Glad you liked it!
Chaos.jpg

Thank you for the details. This thread has inspired me to collect some mud and check whats living in it.

Looking forward to more of your threads, cool stuff

[tlansing]

@Chris Dee: Thanks!

@Wes: Thanks, Wes. I have made it a habit to always collect some of the mud at the bottom of the pond or lake. I use a turkey baster to collect mud and water. I always also let it just sit and develop over a number of weeks to see what emerges. There are always a number of interesting critters in there! if you have ever looked at the fantastic book by Kreutz and Foissner containing superb photos from some ponds in Germany, they show a number of bizarre and beautiful ciliates and other protists that they found in the mud and sediments.

[Dubious]

Fascinating catch!

[Javier]

Very nice finding!

[tlansing]

@Dubious, @Javier: Thanks!